


The Glow Worm

by redwinehouse (orphan_account)



Series: Cranial Capacity INDEFINITE HIATUS, BUT A FULL STORY LINE WAS COMPLETED [4]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Comedy, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 22:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11587353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/redwinehouse
Summary: Sherlock Holmes is finally comfortable as a guest lecturer and is ready to give a lesson of deduction and crime-solving. With the floor to himself and an audience of several hundred impressionable and insecure students, you need to stay on your feet to avoid complete bedlam.





	The Glow Worm

  


[ ](http://www.dazzlejunction.com/generators/image-generator.php)

  


“All right then,” he began, clasping his hands together, “who here is smart enough to follow the cases of the Scotland Yard?” Every student raised their hand. “Yes," Sherlock said, more to himself than the students, “lovely. Now, who only follows the cases that matter?” 

There was a confused murmur in the crowd as everyone turned to each other, wondering if anyone knew the answer. It was clear that no one had the courage to step forward in the fear of being berated.

“Oh, come on,” Sherlock ridiculed, “this isn’t a trick question!” Slower than a turtle, a girl raised her hand. Sherlock pointed to her. “Girl whose boyfriend recently broke up with her, go ahead.”

 _“Sherlock,”_ you warned.

He sighed. “’There are plenty of fish in the sea. It was him, not you. If it was meant to be it was meant to be’. Now, what are the cases you follow because they are the only ones that matter?

The girl took a deep breath. “Well, I keep up with the ones you’re assigned to because they are the most dangerous ones. Like you just said, they haven’t been solved. So I’m more concerned about whoever is giving you the slip.” She smiled shyly. “Not for long, though.”

You waited. To you, that sounded like the exact answer Sherlock was looking for, but he always had a talent for smashing your expectations to bits.

“That is correct.” Sherlock pointed to the boy three seats above her. “He has a crush on you. You’re welcome.” He walked back to the table and turned on the power point. He gave you a meaningful look.

“You’re doing so well,” you assured with a smile. “Try to be a little less rude and demeaning, but you’re doing great.” 

“Not quite sure I can turn that off with this bunch but I like you well enough to try,” he said with a wink.

He turned back. “Okay, try and breathe steadily to allow the oxygen to flow to your brains because you’ll need to use them to keep up. I’m not stopping for questions.”  


You cleared your throat.  


“I _will_ be stopping for questions,” he corrected.

He turned to the first slide. “But make them quick because I have better things to do." On the slide was a picture of a thin man with sunken cheeks, 5 o’ clock shadow, and a head with almost no hair. “Now, aside from the crime of being incredibly ugly, we arrested him in 2003. His name is Todd Parker. At the Scotland Yard he took on the name of the ‘Bright Butcher.’ Does anyone remember why?” When he was met with silence, Sherlock rolled his eyes. “I keep forgetting you’re all twelve.” 

“At least eighteen,” you reminded.

“Fourteen - whatever,” Sherlock said absentmindedly as he brushed you off. When the next slide changed, one guy screamed and another girl ran out of the room to throw up.  


“Oh, come on,” Sherlock mocked. “If you can’t handle this, you won’t be able to go within ten feet of the Scotland Yard or any other forensics job!” You nodded your head. He was right. Rude, but right.

As you looked over the crowd, you couldn’t help but smile. Everyone was captivated by Sherlock, their eyes never leaving him or his presentation. There were no phones or any sort of technology out. It was just them and Sherlock and it warmed your heart. This is more than what you had dreamed, and Sherlock didn’t even realize the gift he had given you. 

You bit your lip, unsure if you should do what you were about to do next. With a shrug, you figured that you could handle the worst. Walking up to Sherlock before he ended his tirade of critique and move back to his lecture, you touched his arm and covered his mic.

“Oh. Hello,” he said, looking at you, completely confused. “What’d I do?” You could only smile.

“You’re doing great. That’s what you’re doing.” Sherlock studied you for a moment, trying to deduce what you were thinking.

“Do…” he rubbed the back of his neck, “ you want to take a seat because you’re really taking up valuable time.” He gestured to the floor in front of him. 

You nodded. “That is exactly what I want to do.” Straightening your lab coat, you walked to the front row and sat on the floor. “How are you all doing?” you asked, looking back.

Hannah, one of your more boisterous students, answered, “He’s a bit of a jerk but he’s amazing. I mean, the way he was able to pick people out of the audience and know everything about them like he could read their minds is just…incredible.”

“Yeah,” another girl named Sally added. “He’s like a super-human. What’s it like dating him?”

You groaned. “Does everyone really know about that?”

“The whole _university_ knows that!” 

“Okay, okay, ladies. Get back to the lecture.”

“Get back to your man,” Sally whispered, which you decided to ignore.

You noticed Sherlock had gone quiet since you sat down. Did you make him…shy? You felt butterflies in your stomach and a flush on your cheeks. If you had enough power to make the man who had been throwing facts and insults like it was his job to be shy then... you smiled. ‘You can do this,’ you mouthed.

Sherlock looked up and continued as if you had given him the breath of life. “Now, this man murdered his entire family and he was stupid enough to lie about it in court.” He clicked to the next slide. It showed the man standing trial, well dressed and cleanly shaven. Comparing the two pictures was like night and day. “He was smug and thought he could get away with it. He was only a headmaster so he really didn’t have that much to be proud of.” Everyone laughed.

“Now, he had shot his three children, wife, and mother-in-law.” You had tossed him a laser pointer earlier which he used with a gusto. “For whatever reason our current forensics team on the field that I have to deal with is god awful and couldn’t figure out if those were stab wounds or bullet wounds, er-” he looked at you, “we need new people to replace the current horrible ones and those people are you,” he ended with a questioning look.

With a chuckle you nodded your head to encourage him. He tried, and he was right. Plus, it was motivating. He continued through the lecture explaining deduction and how it was used to find the man and the motive.

“The issue,” Sherlock continued, “is that he seemed to have an air tight alibi.” His hands behind his back, he began to slowly walk in front of the first row of students. “He had visited his brother in Wales during the time of his family’s murder. So how on earth could he kill his family while he was in Wales?” Sherlock put up a map of England. “They are literally across the country.

“Our little genius Todd knew he needed an alibi. So, he flew over to Wales under the guise of visiting his brother, which he did. But he cut that visit short and got a rental car and drove all the way,” Sherlock dragged the light of the laser pointer from Wales to London, “back to London to murder his family. Then that sneaky old Todd drove back to Wales, because who could brutally murder five people when they’re not even there?” Sherlock walked back to the center of the floor. “He finished his visit with his brother, flew home, and called the cops because his beautiful family had been stabbed to bits.” He spun on his heel to face the class. Sherlock clicked to a picture of a car. “Now, this is the car that was rented and driven between Wales and London, making it an obvious essential piece of evidence."

My attention was focused on this car when we had inbounded it and inspected it as thoroughly as necessary until I found this,” Sherlock’s next slide was a close up picture of the car’s grill with a glow worm stuck in between the grooves. “This glow worm could have only gotten stuck in the grill if it was driven in an area where glow worms were present. Now, the glow worm is a beetle that is only found in around one hundred sites in the UK, not including Wales. But it is found in London. With this information, we interrogated the brother who confirmed the murder, making him an accessory to the crime. With the confession and the glow worm, we successfully arrested and convicted the ‘Bright Butcher.’ Please consider the criminology concentration and forensic program.”

With those words, Sherlock threw the remote and laser over his shoulder carelessly and walked to you. He held out his hand, which you took because you were too stunned at his abruptness to do anything else. 

“Um, Sherlock you should –“ 

And then then the first person started clapping. And the second, and the third. Soon enough, the whole room was in a roar, everyone standing.

“That was _amazing!”_

“I’m going to sign up right now!”

“How can you do that?”

 **“FUCK YEAH, SHERLOCK HOLMES!”**

Soon enough you were both flooded, pieces of paper and notebooks being shoved at Sherlock to be signed.

“What is happening!?” he shouted at you, his back against yours.

“I think you’re famous!” you yelled back. “HEY!” you screamed, using your authority voice. You were happy to see that it worked. “Get a piece of paper, put down your names, and he’ll sign autographs once we get home. I’ll bring them in later this week, okay?”

Sherlock looked at you as if you were a lunatic. “I didn’t agree to this!”

“Well, it’s either that or you get ripped to shreds.” You were both finally able to step away from each other as the kids lined themselves up and signed a piece of paper the “FUCK YEAH” guy had brought out. You ran a hand through your hair and sighed. “They love you so much,” you said warmly as you turned to Sherlock, who had completely disappeared. You felt your phone buzz.

 

_“He looked stressed._

_I’ll reveal myself at home._

_Go talk to him.”_

_\- John_

 

After grabbing the paper, and giving your students thank you’s and goodbyes, you slipped out of the auditorium. “Sherlock?” you called softly.  


“Over here,” he called. He was standing in the car park, his hands deep in his pockets. 

You walked over, pulling your coat around you tighter. “Hey,” you put a hand on his arm, “what’s going on? You just gave one of the greatest lectures I’ve been to. I mean, you made a few people cry, but you were smart, quick-witted, and you even got a standing ovation!” You gave a small laugh. “In all of my years of teaching, I have not seen that.”  


Sherlock turned to you and took off his scarf. “They liked me,” he stated quietly in his smooth baritone. He gently wrapped his scarf around your neck. “No one likes me.”

“Well, yes.” You tilted your head. “They liked you. John likes you, and I ‘like like’ you.” You rested your head against his chest and placed a hand over his heart. “You should be happy.”  


“Well I’m not.” He put his chin on top of your head. “I know how to act when people hate me and when two people like me, but not when a whole auditorium of ten-year-olds worship me.”

Ignoring his mistake, you answered, “Have you thought about just acting like yourself?”

Sherlock took you gently by the shoulders and stepped back. “Explain.”

“Well, they liked you for being Sherlock Holmes, so be Sherlock Holmes,” you answered simply, flipping up his collar.

He inhaled deeply before giving you a rare Sherlock smile that was only you were allowed to see. “Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> You would not imagine the amount of research I had to do about glow worms and their presence in the UK. However, I do think it was worth it. I really hope you liked it.
> 
> ALSO the updates after this might be a little slower. The first chapter, the namesake of "Cranial Capacity," was literally written years ago and I made sure every subsequent chapters I posted already had the next chapter written so that you could get content in an enjoyable manner and I didn't have to worry as much.
> 
> However, I didn't expect to have a mini arc in this little series of vignettists, so my brain is a little fried. I do have two ideas for a little oneshot for these guys that I will be working on today that could possibly go up tomorrow. But I will be behind because I got really drunk last night and played cards of humanity with my family instead of writing yesterday. 
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated. 
> 
> Peace and love <3


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